Save the Children Federation

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children. Our vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Situation in Kenya and Ethiopia - general update

By Andrea Miles - Director of Development

Food distribution, Kenya

Thank you for supporting Merlin's activities to fight the food crisis in East Africa. As you will read below, there is still a need for our emergency health and nutrition services, due to failing rains and high food prices.

If you were thinking of supporting of Merlin's work again, tomorrow (June 13th) would be a great day to do it. Those lovely people at Global Giving will give an additional 40% on donations. So a $20 donation from you, is actually a $28 gift to Merlin.

PS. Please think about giving your donation early in the day, they only have $75,000 to give away.

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Ethiopia

Deteriorating food security likely in the coming months

While food security conditions remain relatively stable in many areas due to the October-December 2011 harvest being good and ongoing humanitarian interventions from INGOs such as Merlin, conditions are expected to deteriorate in the coming months with the prediction of low harvests - due to low rain fall at the start of the year, unusually high price of staple foods; and limited availability of bridging foods between now and August.

Longer term weather forecast better

However, longer term weather forecasts (June to September) are on the whole, good. The national forecast for the coming rainy season predicts that seasonal rains should be ‘on time’ and be of a normal to above-normal amount. Unfortunately, they also forecast that the rains will stop earlier than usual, which would shorten the crop season. There may also be El Niño conditions, which would increase the likelihood of flooding in certain areas.

Continued refugees entering Ethiopia

Ethiopia is still seeing an influx of refugees from Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, fleeing from conflict and even worse food situations – in Somalia crops are being destroyed by caterpillars.

Kenya

Food Security Alert

There has been a Food Security Alert from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) in parts of the north-west pastoral areas, which includes the Turkana region. Merlin has been offering emergency food and nutrition services to communities in Turkana for over a year now.

Poor rains mean low harvests

Food crisis levels are expected to hit around September, which marks the peak of the ‘lean’ season - when food in most scarce, but the situation could start any time from now (mid June). Access to food is likely to decline precariously from July onwards due to a forecasted below-average Long Rains harvest, and above-average food prices. Families will experience significant food gaps and shortages over the next six months.

Disease hits maize farmers

The Food Security Alert announcement comes at a time when at least 70% of the maize crop in Rift Valley Province - the grain basket of Kenya- is reportedly affected by the highly contagious Maize Lethal Necrosis disease. Humanitarian news network IRIN, reports that over 300,000 farmers have been affected, with the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture warning of a high likelihood of crop failure and increased maize prices during the current season. The Government has moved in to stop the further spread of the disease.

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From everyone at Merlin, thank you for your support. If you feel you can offer another gift, we could definitely use your help.

Nutrition for mothers & children Gode, Ethiopia

Therapeutic feeding, Ethiopia

May 16, 2012

New Update from the Horn of Africa

By East Africa Communications Team - Project Communications Officers

The Hunger Crisis in the Horn of Africa continues. The general food security situation has stabilized and is improving in most areas of Ethiopia due to the arrival in the markets of crops from the meher (October-February) harvest, the impact of the overall good deyr/hagaya (October-December) rains on water availability and livestock conditions, and the continuing distribution of relief food.

However, worsening water shortages continue to be reported in parts of Ethiopia, with an estimated 690,000 people in need of emergency water assistance. Over the past week, water trucking requirements increased by 37 trucks.

Risk of a poor April-June rainy season remains in Somalia, and people in southern regions continue to be vulnerable to both price and rainfall shocks following the devastating effects of the recent food crisis. As a result, large numbers of people are likely to remain in crisis until the August 2012 harvest, with numbers likely to increase starting in May in Juba, Shabelle and Bay regions, when the benefit of the current harvest will be reduced.

Save the Children has been supporting treatment for children with severe acute malnutrition at the OTP (Outpatient Therapeutic Program), school feeding programs, training of cook volunteers, rehabilitation of health posts, screening of children for malnutrition and training on malnutrition by the nutrition team.

In the refugee camps, activities in child protection include reunification of children with their relatives, raising of awareness through tea-talk meetings and house to house visits were done to create awareness to parents about the rights of children in general and the reporting mechanism on child abuses within the camp. Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR) teams also traveled to refugee camps to discuss how to collaborate with other FTR teams and help return more lost children to their relatives.

Educational activities included general supervision to ensure good attendance, water supply, hygiene and sanitation and child protection was done in the Dolo Ado camps, rehabilitation of water, shade and latrines, training of cooks on child protection and proper food handling management.

To help families feed their children, we distributed fresh food vouchers as well as supported livestock vaccination and deworming.

May 16, 2012

Final Project Report

By Penelope Crump - Project Communications Officer

Photo credit: Jeff Holt / Save the Children

Thank you for all your support for project Support the Bangladesh Clean Water Fund. This is our final report for this project.

While Bangladesh has made significant progress in addressing national health and education challenges over the past three decades of its independence, the country remains one of the world’s poorest; indicators place it amongst the least developed countries.

Your much-appreciated support, together with those of other caring donors, has helped us continue our programs and projects in Bangladesh. The girls and boys who benefit from our programs love to say that they have friends in America or other countries who are very special to them.

With the support of donors like you, the community installed a deep tubewell (DTW) and held court-yard sessions to teach the community about personal hygiene. Now, the community takes an active role in cleaning and maintaining the DTW and has installed household latrines and a soak well at their own cost.

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